When Your Brother Lays Dying
by BrokenByMagic
Summary: Gilan is desperate to get Will to Malcolm in time. The ferry is the only possible means of surviving. Will knows he is dying. The ferryman knows none of this and is gone. What happens as they await the ferryman.


To anyone looking on at the sight it would have been strange indeed. A ranger frantically urging the horses of his large, bulky wagon faster as though devils were on his tail was a strange sight any day as rangers tended to prefer quiet, less noticeable things.

The fact that it was Halt's old apprentice Gilan at the reigns however was what made it so unnatural.

He was spurring the horses on like a madman, cracking the reigns harshly and with such a fierce determination it left no doubt that the reason behind his mad rush was there was quite literally a life at stake.

Whose life however is what worried them since it was a well known fact that only a few select people were ever trusted enough to gain the title of trusted friend among the Rangers. The few of which were the Rangers themselves, the royal family, and the kingdoms favorite cook.

Gilan himself gave no thought to the people watching his mad dash and he honestly never would for the reason behind it all was his dear friend and Brother Will Treaty himself, bearing a mortal wound.

He was headed towards the river only a few miles away, the closest route to Malcolm, just a few more miles and he could save Will. The thought cycled its way through Gilan's mind relentlessly, a few more miles and he can save Will.

His friend gave a pained cry from the back of the wagon and Gilan turned anxiously to make sure he was alright.

Will was laying on old bedding that Gilan had lain on the bottom of the wagon and he wore around his abdomen a mound of bloodied binding, meant to stop the blood. His face was glistening with sweat and his teeth were clenched as he tried so very hard not to cry out at every bounce of the wagon.

What worried Gilan the most however, were his eyes. Will's eyes, well known for being bright, lively things were beginning to dim and grow hazy.

Turning his worried gaze once more to the horses he gave another crack of his whip and they sped faster down the old road leading to the river crossing.

Nearly an hour and a half later they had arrived to find the ferry and its master gone.

"Damn," Gilan thought, "The ferryman must have taken it out onto the river early."

He jumped from the seat of the wagon and rushed to the back where he could more easily check on his Will.

He crawled up beside Will and pulled him up into a sitting position gently, "Come Will, we have to prepare. The wagon will only cause complications on the ferry so we have to leave it behind. Malcolm should be waiting for us on the other side, let's hope he got the bird I sent…"

Will gave a pained chuckle as he looked up at Gilan and struggled to maintain his sitting position as Gilan climbed out again, "You're rambling Gilan…"

Gilan glanced up at his friend's face and gave a weak grin, "Yes well, I find rambling helps when…" He looked away before fixing his determined gaze back on Will and reached to help him off the wagon.

"When you're friend is dying?"

Gilan threw a hard look at his weak and smirking companion, "You're not dying Will."

Will simply gave a pained smiled as Gilan hooked an arm under Will's and supported him as he allowed himself to drop to the ground.

Gilan knew it was bad, Will never complained, never looked on the down side of things and when he did he didn't try to make light of them. Will would never rely wholeheartedly on even now, leaning against him and doing what he could to keep his weight balanced between the two of them the stubborn ranger.

Will was growing weak and he was trying to keep Gilan from worrying which was only making him worried more.

Gilan glared at the river, trying to use his sheer force of will to summon the ferry and found nothing there to indicate it was coming back yet.

He set Will down carefully against a nearby tree and rushed to the ferryman's house, hoping for any kind of sign that there was another way across. Nothing, though he did find a note from the ferryman telling any who came looking for him that he'd be back in a few hours time.

Gilan hurried back to Will and found his friend in just the spot he had left him.

Gilan glanced about nervously, hoping more than anything that nothing else would go wrong and praying to anyone, even Gorlog, that Will would be alright.

He looked back to Will whose head was beginning to bob dangerously as Will began to find it increasingly difficult to lift his head.

He rushed over and shook Will lightly, "Will! Will you have to stay with me, alright? The ferry will be back in just a bit, I swear."

Will lifted his head slowly and offered a slight smile to Gilan as reassurance that he'd try to stay with him as long as he could.

Even so, within a few moments, Will's head began to bob once again and Gilan shook him harder, "Hey hey hey hey! Stay with me Will! Don't you leave me here! Don't you dare close your eyes Will!"

Will blinked up at his blindly, not really seeing anything but a hazy outline but knowing Gilan was kneeling beside him and worrying.

"WILL!"

Will laughed quietly, painfully and tasted with it the metallic taste of blood, "No need to yell Gilan, I hear you."

He smiled at the ground, unable to find the strength to lift his head to Gilan any longer, "Im not going anywhere Gil."

Gilan nodded, "You can bet your last coin, you're not! You're staying right here until the ferryman returns and then you're headed to Malcolm who will take good care of you and then I can get you to Halt who can kill you properly for putting me through this."

Will laughed again and then coughed violently as blood bubbled up in his throat, "Yeah… Halt's not going to be very happy about this is he?"

Gilan gave a little laughed, encouraged now by Will's talking. If he could talk he wasn't dead, that was all Gilan needed to know at this point.

"Have you got anything I can write with?"

Gilan frowned at Will, "Er… yeah." He rummaged in his cloak and pulled a scrap of parchment and a quill from one of its many pockets, "Here."

Will took it gratefully and began to joy down a few shaky words before nodding once to himself and folding the parchment best he could with his shaking hands, "Give this to Alyss will you?"

Gilan hesitated a moment and shook his head adamantly, "Give it to her yourself. Im not giving up on you just yet."

Will lifted his head, leaning it back against the tree behind him, "Take the damned paper Gil. If I make it to her I'll tell her it myself. Give it to her if I can't."

Gilan scowled at the parchment then snatched it from Will, "Fine. I expect you to make it to her though Will, this doesn't mean I can just let you…."

Will gave him a wry smile, his mouth stained by his own blood, "Die?"

Gilan turned his scowl to Will, "You're not dying Will."

Will's body was wracked with violent coughs as he tried to keep from laughing and Gilan's face immediately transformed from anger to concern for his friend, "Will?"

Will leaned his head against the tree once more and closed his eyes against the pain that raged throughout his body, "Gilan… Tell Halt Im sorry will you?"

Gilan frowned at his friend, "Tell him you're sorry? For what?"

Will smiled slightly, his eyes still closed and remembering all the years he had spent as a ranger and a ranger's apprentice, "For all the trouble I've brought him, I can't imagine I was very easy to deal with. Tell him Im sorry for everything, all the worry, all the almost dying, everything."

Gilan gazed at Will in utter amazement before sputtering his reply, "Sorry? Why would you have to say sorry for any of that? Halt wouldn't trade any of that for anything in this world Will!"

Will took an experimental breath and as a result his breath hitched as pain rippled throughout him, "Just…. Tell them all for me. Halt, Horace, Evanlyn, Erak, Malcolm, the rangers. Tug. Tell them I'm sorry for all I've put them through."

Gilan opened his mouth to protest but Will cut him off, "Please." Will's eyes were finally open and gazing at Gilan with the same life they always held, bright, living, loving and proof that he was alive and yet… they held something in then that took all his hope away.

There was a look of resignation in Will's eyes and with it was a brighter look, something that made his next words a little easier, contentment.

"I will Will. I'll tell them."

Will smiled and leaned his head again on the tree behind him closing his eyes, "I suppose I owe you one too."

Gilan placed a hand over his mouth, trying desperately not to cry, "Im sorry for everything Gilan, I really am. But I'm not also. I've lived a life worth living and you've helped me with that. So thank you. Tell them I said that too Will you? Tell them I said thank you?"

Gilan nodded and struggled to keep his voice even, "I tell them Will."

Will opened his eyes and stared at the light trickling through the leaves of the tree above him and frowned, "Gilan?"

Gilan swiped at his eyes, "Yes Will?"

"Could you? Could you sing Cabin in the Tree for me?"

Gilan couldn't help the broken laugh that fell from him mouth, "Are you sure Will? My voice isn't exactly the last thing anyone would ever be wanting to hear before they died don't you think?"

Will gave a laugh that sounded too much like he was happy, too much like the old Will, the living Will that it nearly tore Gilan's heart in two, "I think I'd much rather hear my brother singing then crying. Besides, you don't sound too bad."

And so, with a bitter laugh, Gilan closed his eyes and began to sing.

"Going back to the Cabin in the trees.

Going back to the creek beneath the hill.

There's a girl who used to live there when I left

But I doubt she'll be waiting for me still.

Never thought I'd be gone so many years.

When I left always planned I'd return

But time slips away before we know

That's just one more lesson that we learn."

Gilan opened his eyes after a short moment of remembrance for what he now knew that song to mean. Once upon a time it had been just a few words about a man who realized too late he had missed his chance. Now when he sang, he thought of Will and of Alyss.

Will lay, leaning against the tree his face turned towards the sky with a content smile on his face that no longer bore the traces of pain he had seen before. His friend had grown still and his heart had stopped at last. Will's eyes would gaze upon the world no more.

His brother sat, his pendant clutched in his hand, his cloak stained with blood and a smile upon his face. His eyes were closed and if Gilan hadn't known better he'd have said Will was merely enjoying the breeze.

It seemed so unfair, so wrong and so cruel that the sun still shone brightly and the air carried the gentlest of breezes as if the while world hadn't just stopped. No, the world continued spinning and it remained one of the most beautiful days Gilan could remember for quite some time and on any other day he would have said as such but he could now hardly think of a worse day.


End file.
